Jan Robert R Go

Jan Robert R Go, PhD

Associate Professor of Political Science
on special detail (fellowship)

jrgo1@up.edu.ph
Google Scholar | ResearchGate | Personal Website

Jan Robert R. Go is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the Department of Political Science, University of the Philippines Diliman, and a Visiting Scholar at the Department of Political Science, National Chengchi University, under the 2026 Taiwan Fellowship of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China (Taiwan).

His work sits at the intersection of political theory and empirical inquiry, with research interests spanning local politics and decentralisation, grassroots political life, political participation, the construction of political power, and Chinese domestic politics. His scholarship examines how political meanings are constructed and negotiated in everyday contexts, particularly in relation to democracy, governance, and participation.

Dr Go earned his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of the Philippines Manila, and his Master of Arts in Political Science from the University of the Philippines Diliman, where his research examined the politics of education decentralisation in a Philippine municipality. He completed his PhD in Political Theory at Central China Normal University in Wuhan, China, in 2022. In 2017, he attended the Chinese Language Summer School at Peking University in Beijing.

His first book, published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2026, examines the politics of participation in urban communities in Quezon City, Philippines, and Wuhan, China, during pandemic-related lockdowns. He is currently undertaking a Taiwan-based research project exploring how democracy is understood and practised in everyday life within a rural village context.

Beyond research, Dr Go has held leadership and editorial roles in the discipline. He currently serves as Vice Chairperson of the Philippine Social Science Council (PSSC) Board of Trustees, representing the Philippine Political Science Association (PPSA), and as Vice Chair of Division VIII (Social Sciences) of the National Research Council of the Philippines (NRCP). He served as President of the Philippine Political Science Association from 2023 to 2025. From 2014 to 2023, he was Managing Editor of the Philippine Political Science Journal (PPSJ), the PPSA’s Web of Science and Scopus-indexed journal. He also serves as Associate Editor for Book Reviews of Asian Politics and Policy and previously sat on the Board of Directors of the Philippine Association for Chinese Studies (PACS).

His international academic engagements include appointments as Visiting Researcher at the Centre for Asian Studies (CÉTASE) and the Department of Political Science at the Université de Montréal, participation in the 2023 Visiting Program for Young Sinologists organised by the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences and China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and fellowship in the 2021 American Political Science Association (APSA) Asia Workshop on local politics and governance in East and Southeast Asia. In 2024, he was appointed as an expert of the Hubei Overseas Chinese Theory and Research Think Tank.

At the University of the Philippines, Dr Go has held administrative leadership positions, including Associate Dean for Research, Extension, and Publications at the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy (2022–2024) and Graduate Program Coordinator of the Department of Political Science (2024–2025). He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in Philippine politics, political theory, and political methodology.

Before joining the University of the Philippines as a full-time faculty member in 2014, Dr Go worked at the Emergency and Humanitarian Action Unit of the World Health Organisation Regional Office for the Western Pacific and taught at St Scholastica’s College Manila.

Education

  • Doctor of Philosophy in Political Theory, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China, 2022
  • Master of Arts (Political Science), University of the Philippines, Diliman, 2013.
  • Bachelor of Arts (Political Science), University of the Philippines, Manila, 2009.

Research Interests

Local and grassroots politics; construction of power; the politics of participation; Asian and Philippine political theory; Chinese domestic politics

Select Publications

Courses Taught

  • POLSC 101: Introduction to Philippine Politics
  • POLSC 111: Qualitative Research Methods in Political Science
  • POLSC 120: Introduction to Political Theory
  • POLSC 125: Asian Political Thought
  • POLSC 126: Philippine Political Thought
  • POLSC 137: Special Topics in Comparative Politics (China)
  • POLSC 199: Research Design in Political Science
  • POLSC 201: Analysis of Philippine Politics
  • POLSC 210: Advanced Political Analysis
  • POLSC 220: Issues in Political Theory
  • Soc Sci 2: Social, Economic, and Political Thought